Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Chapter eighteen, Man City. "IT'S ALL IN THE LANGUAGE."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"HEY, I SAID TWENTY!" Ada snapped her fingers, eyes trained on the bulky, black dumbbells that Richard was struggling to curl. The Frenchman groaned with a desperate desire to be spared, but she was unrelenting. "I've seen you leave Ralph Lauren with fifty bags in your hands. These weigh less than that. Twenty more, go on!"
Richard met eyes with a drained Colin and a heaving Jan Maas, and then rushed to do as ordered. Because they all knew better than to argue.
Ada had been both a harbinger and tamer of chaos in the last few weeks. She'd always been a perfectionist when it came to football and all that the sport entailed, but whilst the obsessive drive had subdued and diluted since working alongside the optimistic Ted Lasso, it was now coming back in full force.
With the FA Cup semifinal on Sunday, Richmond couldn't afford any on-pitch weaknesses. They couldn't afford any gaps or faulty machinery in their arsenal. Guardiola's Man City would no doubt bring their A game, and it wasn't just bias that had her thinking that – although, maybe bias did lay the foundation for her opinion, because Ada had always believed them to be the greatest team in the world.
And how did one defeat such a team?
By giving it their fucking all.
So, yes, she'd been a little strict when it came to training recently. The sessions had been a little more intense, fine. Vigorous in their choice exercises and thorough in their structured itinerary. Sure, she made them run a lot of sprints, and had them incorporate weights into their long laps around the pitch, and worked them the same way that Marta Vieira da Silva worked herself – which was to the bone.
(And, yes, when Ted called early this morning and told her that he had to take care of an emergency, one which involved Doctor Sharon and a bicycle and an emergency room, he also made sure to not put Ada in charge of training. For the team's sake. Instead, she was to run warm ups in the gym; a tiny side quest that wouldn't spike her heart rate or curdle any amour propre.)
